Person of the Year is "You" -- not that silly.

By None:

So, Time Magazine has named their person of the year - and the person they've decided was the most influential in 2006 was "you", meaning all of us.

Setting aside the silliness of picking "everybody" instead of a single person, Time Magazine is basically admitting that big media is dead. It's an acknowledgement that the internet gives the audience the ability to create its own media - which means that everyone now has freedom of speech on a global scale.

I think we should all still worry about corporate consolidation in the TV business, the radio business, the newspaper business... but that all seems much less scary now in the age of YouTube, podcasting, and blogs.

Everyone now has a voice, and while it's true that millions of dollars in marketing muscle can amplify that voice -- so can a simple idea produced by one person at home, whether it's the latest funny video on YouTube or a brilliant idea on a blog.

In 2000, John McCain proved that a website could raise a bunch of money - a million bucks in 48 hours. In 2004, Howard Dean proved that a web strategy could create a lot of buzz and raise even more money - some 60 million bucks.

The big question of 2008 will be: Who will make the best use of netroots tools to organize people, create buzz, move primary voters, and - oh yeah - raise a ton of money?